


Anniversary

by idrilswritings (idrilhadhafang)



Series: High Fantasy Series [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Adoptive Parents - Freeform, Dictatorship, Dreams and Nightmares, Dystopia, Fantasy, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fireworks, Gen, High Fantasy, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Original Fiction, Other, POV Female Character, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 17:45:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17228486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilswritings
Summary: A celebration, all based on a lie.





	Anniversary

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Fireworks

  
“Beautiful night, isn’t it?”  
  
Liana looked up at her father even as he sat next to her. There was something about the night that was beautiful, Liana couldn’t help but notice — the different explosions of color lighting up the night sky. Blue, red, gold, silver — they practically exploded against the night sky, a testament to the day that the Emperor has ascended.  
  
There was something about that night that still made Liana uneasy. She didn’t know the Emperor. She knew him well enough, though, through his actions. Even hearing everything that he had done...  
  
She had mostly heard rumors. Rumors were bad enough, though. Rumors told her everything that she needed to know about that odious man.   
  
“Yeah. I guess.” Liana looked up at the stars, at the bursts of color that broke up the specks of gold and silver in the sky. “It doesn’t feel right, though. It’s like we’re living a lie.”  
  
“You’re not wrong, Li.” Her father’s voice was soft. “We are, actually. Though I doubt that the Emperor wants to acknowledge it.”  
  
Liana would have asked why. She supposed that she already knew the answer, though.   
  
Her father continued. “It was why I went that far. Your mother and I...we saw what was going on, and we couldn’t simply watch while others suffered.”  
  
“I want to fight too.” Liana said.   
  
Her father smiled, sadly. “You don’t know if you want to do it, Li. War isn’t glorious, and it isn’t kind. It’s one of those things where once you emerge from the other side, you’re not the same.”  
  
Liana bit her lip. She couldn’t argue with that. She knew her mother — how her mother would have terrible nightmares, nightmares that Liana was never privy to, but could only imagine how horrifying they were. The sorts of nightmares that woke Liana from her sleep. Her mother didn’t really talk about the nightmares. Liana could only assume that it was her mother’s twisted way of staying strong.   
  
“Is that what happened to Mama?” she said.   
  
Her father sighed. “What happened to your mother during the war is very complicated.”  
  
Liana supposed that she couldn’t press the subject further. She was only thirteen, but she knew that there were some things you simply didn’t press, no matter what.   
  
The two of them sat on the steps of their house, looking up at the fireworks that exploded in the night sky.


End file.
